OK, this one might get those comment buttons clicking, so get ready to have at it in discussion. Actually, the motivation behind this one for critics is more of a suspicion, since I can’t say for sure. Let’s pose it as a question: Do you ever get the idea that game critics review great games badly just so they will stick out from the pack? Every so often, I’ll be reading reviews for a widely acclaimed video game title and come across one that nitpicks the tiniest flaws and fails to fully appreciate its many merits. In a way, it makes sense for a reviewer to point out things that other people are not. But as I said in my last article on this topic, the main purpose of the critic and his review is to inform readers on the quality of the game in question. Whatever his intentions or reasoning, by focusing unfairly on the negative aspects of the title, this goal is not properly met and the reader is not properly informed.

The solution here seems pretty straightforward: be fair! Point out the good and the bad objectively and with equal focus and attention. Say what you liked and what you didn’t, what was good and what wasn’t. That way, as a reviewer, your articles will be more trustworthy and readers will take you a lot more seriously.

Have you read any game reviews you felt weren’t being fair? Do you think it’s because they wanted to seem different from the droves of positive feedback? Do you think it could be for a different reason? Let us know in the comments!

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If you have comments about the material posted on the site this year or suggestions for future content, I’d love to hear about them! Just leave a comment on this article or send me an email. Thanks for reading, everybody, and I look forward to a great 2012!

While the immediate effect is that the player’s and other movements appear smooth, the lag still exists. As a result, weird stuff appears to happen and the player doesn’t even know it’s lag. The classic example is the dreaded “kill around the corner” scenario, typically observed in shooters. The player runs around a corner to take cover from enemy fire and dies thereafter, when he was clearly out of harm’s way. Little does he know that he was hit before he made it to safety, but didn’t know about it until a little more seemingly smooth game time passes by. These sorts of inexplicable alterations to the normal game flow can really become frustrating to the player, and their root cause is hidden by prediction or anti-lag.

I suppose what we can learn from this is that, in lower latency situations, anti-lag can be a useful technique for smoothing out the jitters. Unfortunately, when lag becomes more severe, its aggravating effects can be exacerbated. Perhaps an alternative technique could be employed for higher lag situations? Maybe games should just put heavier focus on matching people with nearby players? Or, perhaps this is just another argument for dedicated servers? I’d like to get your take and start some discussion on the problem and its potential solutions. Let us know what you think in the comments!

I’m approaching the review issue with the main job of the reviewer in mind: to inform gamers on the quality of the game in question. This is a good and right goal for a reviewer to reach. Unfortunately, critics can take it too far and make a critical (ha!) error: playing as a critic and not as a gamer. Critics can get so overwhelmingly hung up on the technical details of game design or graphics or sounds that they often fail to benefit from what makes the game fun in the first place, not to mention losing immersion. Analyzing the design and quality details as you play is not the same as playing the game for fun’s sake, and thus does not provide an accurate picture for the audience of your review.

What is the solution? You might not like this answer, but it depends on the critic. Each one needs to find a method that works best and yields the correct results. This could mean playing the game through as a gamer without paying any attention to quality or details, and then reviewing the experience in retrospect. Or, it could mean playing as one normally plays, but stopping to take notes along the way. Just don’t forget to play like the average player would play instead of dissecting the game down to the roughest details.

Have you read or written reviews that suffer from this issue? Do you have a different take on game review technique? Let us know in the comments!

• At the time of this writing, there have been 20 responses to the poll.
• According to the poll responses, counting the “I don’t care” response as 1 hour, the average minimum gameplay time is approximately 27.85 hours.
• Based on this number, the average value of gameplay among those who responded is about $2.15 / hour for new, $60 games. This ratio is even lower than the ratio found for $15 XBLA games, which is to be expected. The larger titles often have more time, disc space and team with which to craft expansive universes and deep multiplayer experiences.
• This suggests that those games which live up to gamers’ expectations are (once again) a more cost effective form of entertainment than going to see movies in theaters, which typically cost around $4 / hour.

Fans the Internet over, myself included, have been watching for and speculating about the next Alan Wake game, keeping our ears out for every piece of news from the creators we could find. Not long ago, we saw a teaser trailer that let us know a new game was on the way but offered very little of what we really wanted to learn: the plot. Now, an official, substantive trailer for the game is available and we get a meaningful glimpse of the future – a game called Alan Wake’s American Nightmare:

I desperately hope they don’t cheapen the series with non-unique elements that detract from the original charm; the appearance of an uzi and what appears to be a love interest don’t look too promising on that front, but I’ll reserve judgment until I see more. The trailer seems to create as many questions as it answers, but it’s good to see more of this series on the way. Let us know what you thought of the trailer in the comments!

This was too good not to share – the A-Team music really puts this video over the top. Thanks to BurnZeZ for pointing this out. Leave your reactions in the comments!

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Feel free to expand your thoughts in the comments.